Habitat
parkland with geneered lizard birds in foreground. SCE cover © Jim Burns]] cover © Jim Burns]] Habitats are large bitek structures geneered and grown by Edenists to house their population. These gargantuan space-born structures vary in size from 7 to 65 km in length but all follow the same design. The first habitat, Eden, was germinated in Jovian orbit in 2075, being opened for habitation 10 years later. This served for a template for all habitats built since. Olsen Neale, Commander of the Confederation Navy office in Tranquility, says to Erick Thrackar, while discussing Jantrit: «The Edenists had never lost a habitat before, their life expentancy is measured in millenia.» An habitat is a cylindrical tube, capped at both ends. Its shell is constructed from bitek polyp, an organic material which is also found in landcoral. skyscrapers and induction cables. tNA cover © Jim Burns]] The shell is made of many different layers; starting with an organic base layer of soil for plant growth on the interior surface of the shell. Under the soil is a complex layer known as the neural strata, a thin layer of organic neural structures which forms the “brain” of the habitat. Beneath the neural strata extend many more layers of organic polyp material which contains many “organs” used in the maintenance of an inner biosphere. There is a mitosis layer, where polyp is continuously extruded to the exterior of the shell to maintain a constant thickness against vacuum abrasion. above an habitat’s docking ledges. tNA cover © Jim Burns]] The interior of the habitat is a sealed biosphere suitable for human habitation. As the Habitat revolves around its long axis it generates a simulated gravity through centrifugal force. Essentially, all matter within the tube that does not lie on the axis of rotation is thrown outwards. As this matter hits the interior of the shell it experiences a resistance which is greater than the centrifugal force, emulating the force of gravity. Along the axis of revolution, or the line of symmetry of the habitat is the solar tube, a mesh of organic material containing luminescent plasma, and simulating natural sunlight withing this tube. The light-tube brightness is varies to create the habitat’s diurnal cycle. Because internal force is centrifugal rather than gravitation, the force at all points on the inner surface is equal, allowing habitation at all points. The inside of an habitat is similar to the biosphere caverns in Adamist asteroid settlements. Unusual habitats *The earlier habitats lacked features that were later integrated in the standard model, namely the equatorial skyscraper band. *As of 2611, there are five human non-Edenist habitats. *The Ruin Ring is made of debris from distroyed Laymil habitat-like spaceholms. *Asteroid settlements are excavated; space stations, large Adamist starships and Tyrathca arkships are assembled: while both kinds can be used for extra-planetary dwelling, they differ radically from habitats, which are alive: They are grown (from bitek embryos) and have a counsciousness. *Atlantean seaships share many features with regular habitats; voidhawks and blackhawks less so.